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Seis canciones castellanas

Introduction

The Seis canciones castellanas were published in 1941 by Union Musical Española, the state publishing company, and have remained firmly in the repertoire since the day of their publication. All six songs feature popular Castilian melodies that Guridi harmonizes with great skill.

Recordings

A deeply seductive album of Spanish songs performed by the young Spanish soprano Sylvia Schwartz. This collection comprises works by Enrique Granados (1867–1916), Jesús Guridi (1886–1961), Joaquín Turina (1882–1949), Eduardo Toldrá (1895–1962) and ...» More

High up on that mountain I picked a cane, I picked a carnation. A ploughman, a ploughman must my lover be. I do not want a miller who treats me like his corn. I want a ploughman to take his mules to plough and at midnight serenade me. Enter, ploughman, if you come to see me. If you come to see me, come through the yard, climb the orange tree and you’ll be safe. Enter, ploughman, if you come to see me.

The set opens with Allá arriba, en aquella montaña, which boasts a delightful folk melody that Guridi varies throughout the song. The girl compares in her imagination a farmer and a miller and opts for the farmer—a ploughman—who, she hopes, will come and serenade her at midnight, a hope that is accompanied by glistening arpeggios; and in the final bars of the song she gives him precise directions to her house.

In ¡Sereno! the girl calls to the nightwatchman to come and rescue her, for a man has entered her house at night. ‘This man is killing me’, she sings, but the voluptuous melody contradicts the sense of the words. The song ends with a long atmospheric postlude.

Call him with your kerchief, call him with grace and style. Toss your pennant over its shoulder. Majo, call out to the bull. Torero, fling down your cape; torero, fling down your capote; take care, lest the bull seize you; take care, lest the bull catch you. Majo, if you go to the bulls, don’t wear a cape to fight; for the bulls are most brave and will kills some toreros.

Llámale con el pañuelo expresses the girl’s fear that her bullfighter lover will be killed by the bull. The melismas in the voice derive from the cante jondo tradition, and the piano punctuates the vocal line like a passionate flamenco.

I do not want your hazelnuts, nor your gillyflowers— for they’ve turned out to be empty, the promises you made, as I fetched water from the fountain. Since they were words of love, the water bore them away, the crystal-clear water, down to the fountain, where you gave me your word to be mine unto death.

How do you expect me to guess if you are aware or asleep, since no angel descends from heaven to tell me! How do you expect me to guess! Joy and more joy shall we have, pretty dove, when you are mine, when you come to be mine, pretty dove, my bouquet! When I go to the forest for firewood, ah my love, when I am caught in a thicket and see the white snow, ah my love, I think of your beauty. I’d like for a while to be the link in your earring, to whisper in your ear what I feel in my heart. I count the stars, ah my love, to see which one pursues me. It is a morning star, ah my love, small but steadfast.

Early on St John’s day, be up with the lark, and in the window you’ll see a little sprig of mint. That white dove which pecks the you know what, where might I catch it, where shall I catch it? If I grasp it by the beak its feet are still free to run.

Pick up the garlands, my lad, for the night is clear and music resounds from the depths of the sea.

Mañanita de San Juan refers to St John’s Day that falls on 24 June, Midsummer Day. The song is the most lyrical of the set, as the boy is urged to make a garland—for the night is clear and music resounds from the depths of the sea.